The Pokémon Trading Card Game Is Getting A Shake Up With New 'Battle Styles' Mechanic

I haven't played the TCG in a while, so I'm gonna ask the veterans: Is this really a new mechanic? It just looks like abilities with a new name to me. Not being cynical, genuinely asking.

I want a Switch TCG like this.
The one time I wish they milk an IP they don't do it.

@Brydontk Not really, it's basically a new subclass of cards like Ultra Beasts and Team Plasma cards.

Yeah, it's like @ZebZed says. Seems more like another new subclass gimmick to shake up Standard for a couple years before it's inevitably rotated out.

It just looks like there giving overpowered Pokemon even more overpowered powers.

Jeez, the power creep has really gotten out of hand. I have great memories of the TCG in the Black/White era but it just looks like a mess now.

@nessisonett I don't know how much it changed in b/w but I stopped playing in the neo genesis era, where things were still pretty vanilla, this looks like a different game nowadays.

Would love for a new TCG RPG like the Gameboy Colour games but on the Switch.
Not a F2P pile of junk like the PC game.

Take my money already!

@Bl4ckb100d The B/W era streamlined and unified a lot of rules, which IMO made the game the best it had been since Neo Genesis. It's still fun to play a theme deck or two against a friend casually but the power creep in the last decade has been pretty significant. I think once you're playing at an intermediate it's easy to get frustrated by how quickly your cards can become obsolete or how often new gimmicks are introduced and phased out.

I really enjoy the TCG but it's just too expensive to play competitively. Decks can push 50-100 dollars even building them with the most common versions of cards around. Oftentimes the strongest archetypes in the meta can push 200 or 300 dollars. Sorry, but no matter how much I like the game, I just can't do that...

I haven't played TCG in a few years but I remember using this card in the online game that basically made me immune to damage if the oppoent pokemon had special energy, which a lot of players did to use powerful attacks early.

https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/xy-series/xy4/65/

Was very funny to see them waste their energy on Pokemon and then I whip out that bad boy. Meanwhile I'm humming 'Can't touch this' to myself.

Pokemon TCG has suffered SUCH power creep, like, Everything seems to be a one hit KO

Now just bring PTCGO to switch. I can play it on my phone so why not on Nintendo's console

@ARPK Eh, I play on competitive level and that's something you quickly get used to. One of the things I've learned is that it's best to sell and cards that you won't be able to use in an upcoming rotation JUST before it's announced or before Worlds.

@Heavyarms55 TPCi's been getting better at making it cheaper to play competitively in recent times. They released a League Battle Deck based on Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia-GX/Zacian V, one of the most common deck archetypes in the current Standard format (and possibly Expanded, I don't keep up with that one), less than a month ago. Crobat V and Dedenne-GX, two of the most common draw support Pokemon in Standard, are also available (or will be in the case of Crobat V) in value products.

Also, $50-$100 USD for a complete deck is a FAR better price compared to past years where it easily could've cost double or even triple that amount. I still remember when Rayquaza DRX/DRV was $100+ due to its rarity and it being an amazing non-EX Basic attacker for Rayquaza/Eelektrik decks at the time.

@Heavyarms55 is that considered much for a deck? Coming from Magic where 3-4 digit deck prices are more or less the norm, I wonder if the Pokémon TCG might be a nice budget pickup for in between.
I assume there is an eternal format with a higher price point or is everything always rotating? I know the game is big on the bling factor and limited prints but if one only cares about playing.

@ZebZed Oh I am well aware it isn't as expensive as it has been in the past. That said it's still far too expensive. I just can't justify spending that kind of money on cards every few weeks or months.

On a side note, I played that Rayquaza deck back in the day. Had a lot of fun with it. And it was too expensive regardless.

@Scaredy_Cat And you explain also why I don't play MTG either... but those prices were for standard with rotations. There is an expanded and a legacy format as well but I haven't kept up with prices for those cards.

People here complaining about the power creep. As someone who has come from MTG and now mains PTCG, this is nothing compared to other card games out there lol. PTCG is way more balanced than most tcgs. Also, Standard play is on average way cheaper than MTG and I love PTCG's business model (how every physical pack gives you a free digital pack). Anyways, maybe its because I didn't play the game back when the power creep wasnt there but honestly thats just the nature of these kind of games. You either accept it or move on

@Yanina
They could just use the PC/Android Version...

I feel like they change the TCG to much, it evolves so fast you can't keep up with it.

When you watch the animation for this and then play SW&SH... oooooffffff

@ZebZed I appreciate your input. I'm kind of a sentimental Johnny when it comes to these games so I often fall quickly into the trap of "wanting to win on my own terms" even when my own terms suck and I'm just building worse versions of good decks. And that's something players like me often have to get over, which is that a lot of playing the game successfully is embracing the way the game works instead of wishing it worked differently. I definitely like that the modern version of the game focuses a LOT less on coin flips and chance, and it is — as a few people have said here — one of the more balanced and affordable card games on the market.